Since 2008 World Autism Awareness Day is observed on the 2nd of April every year and celebrated by many organizations around the world. World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.
Allivet would like to celebrate service dogs around the world that help and provide assistance to people with autism. Autism presents even more unique challenges than other more prevalent disabilities.
Children with autism are often nonverbal, or when they are verbal they usually do not use the skill to actively communicate with other people in their environment.
Service dogs have been very helpful with children with autism to provide comfort and security which allows many children to sleep in their beds by becoming their “security item” of “transitional object”. Service dogs have also been helpful with another common autism behavior: wandering. Many families have to hold tight to their autistic child in order to keep them from running off. Many children have transitioned this behavior by holding tight to their service dog.
Children with autism that face difficulties with verbalization, communication, and social relationships benefit greatly from being paired with service dogs specifically trained to meet their unique needs. Service dogs help to create consistency in the child’s life as their dogs go everywhere with them, even public places and educational facilities, bringing them consistency, stability, and calm reassurance that the feelings of anxiety or fear are not needed because the trusted buddy is by their side.
Many organizations that specialize in service dogs like 4 Paws For Ability, a nonprofit 501 (c ) (3) organization whose mission is to place quality service dogs with children disabilities and veterans who have lost use of limbs or hearing, help with animal rescue and educate the public regarding use of service dogs in public places. These organizations operate on no profit and rely on community support. There are so many ways you can make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities! You can sponsor—among other things—one of the facility cats, a dog in prison, or a child in need of an assistance dog.
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